With the news that two new cafés, Daily Goods Coffee and Sun Café, will be opening shortly, it seems we’re having somewhat of a coffee (re-)naissance in the area at the moment. This is something I feel I should be writing about, yet feel uniquely unqualified for: I just don’t like coffee. So I thought I’d open this up to the public on Twitter, and here present my crowd-sourced guide to Camberwell café society.

One of the latest to open, and perhaps the most popular in all the responses, is Fowlds. The upholsterer, a fixture of Addington Square for so many years, has converted the front of their workshop into a café which is petit but trés chic (not sure why I went French with that). It’s away from the centre of Camberwell, meaning it’s probably little known; as David O’Mara said, “only realised Fowlds was near to where I live a short time ago, definitely think its the best in the area”. Celia agreed: “Fowlds all the way”. Vaguechera says “Fowlds is the perfect coffee spot — super coffee, lush cake, great little spot to hang out and a nice friendly vibe”, and Kat Brown adds “I went to Fowlds specially and it was lovely — great atmosphere, coffee, food”. Burgess Park also chimed in, saying Fowlds is “awesome! Double thumbs up. Be great if there could be more outside seating” (it is on the small side).

Maloko, on Church Street, also has positive reviews. Peckham Burger says “I like Maloko. Nice coffee, good music, smells divine and the most charming service. A little gem.” Jane Common added “I like the coffee, and lots of others speak highly too, in the Brazilian place” (it’s Cameroonian, I think).

Less enthusiasm was shown for Costa, recently opened on Denmark Hill. Jo C says “on principle never Costa support local crews ie Love Walk, Eroma, Cafe Noir”. I have to point out here that Costa was a local crew — they started as a roastery in Lambeth some 40-odd years ago and opened their first retail branch in Vauxhall in 1978. Now as chain as chain can be, of course.

No-one mentioned Cycle PS or Cafe at the Ortus, which I’m sure is purely a matter of oversight, not opinion. And this is far from an exhaustive list (not a coffee drinker, remember?), so apologies if I’ve missed anyone out.

For me, you can keep your coffee; I’ll be trying out the wine at the newly-opened wine bar Le Tire Bouchon instead.

Update:Café Florence, opposite Love Walk Café on Denmark Hill, is tipped by HowardS: “Its coffee is really good and it is far superior in almost all ways to Love Walk, if you’re up this part of town.”

May 28th, 2014

62 Responses to “Coffee in Camberwell — the public speak”

I think Cafe Florence needs a mention, on the opposite side of the road from Love Walk cafe. Its coffee is really good and it is far superior in almost all ways to Love Walk, if you’re up this part of town.

A great round-up! One more recent addition is the Koala Coffee stand at the Saturday Farmers Market on the Green. With outside seating a bit of a rarity in Camberwell, we’ll be visiting a lot as summer gets closer!

Some gossip on good authority. The former Johansson’s is to become a pizza restaurant. Work is to start there shortly and will take about three months. My source tells me that the new owners have a pizza restaurant in Kensal Green, which makes me think they may be the people behind Sacro Cuore (http://www.sacrocuore.co.uk/index.html) and Santa Maria (http://www.santamariapizzeria.com/) and that if that’s right, the pizzas will be good.

Kat, last time I was in the Dispensary, watching a Danish minor-league play-off final, the atmosphere was almost scholarly apart from a few really quite young Camberwell ladies enjoying a drink together.

They may not have been Belles from Bellenden or Gels from the Grove, but they were Camberwell girls nevertheless and had the unmistakeable whiff of mirth and cider that that entails, contributing much more merriment to the atmosphere than the kick-bollock-scramble of the soccer on offer on screen.

The new managers of the Old Dip have invested quite heavily in trying to make the place more open to the general public, even going so far as to ban some of the more terrifying old fellas that used to drink in there. They’ve diversified the beers, got some decent food in (Pieminister pies), opened up the interior to make it more amenable to eating.

While I’d avoid it on a match day if you’re of a nervous disposition, I’d certainly give it another chance if you haven’t been in in a while.

JES HOLDEN’S funeral is tomorrow, FRIDAY 6 JUNE 2014, followed by a family and friends do at the Crooked Well in the afternoon, then a full-blown wake at the Hermits Cave from 7pm.

THE HERMITS CAVE will be the place to be for all well-wishers of Camberwell and Jes from 7pm. The whole world is welcome to this special wake, because this was his public house and because Jes was a bright light of Camberwell for many years.

SE5 FORUM people will know him from designing and managing all the Forum stuff from the start. Millwall Football Club looks a lot more professional and creditable from all his work there. He helped keep its character real London.

Jes was a talented and successful art director in London for decades, making his way from scratch in a very hard world. He and his girlfriend bought a wreck of a house in Camberwell, camped in it, lived in it produced two real Camberwell girls.

I worked with Jes but mainly we were Camberwell friends as only Camberwell people can be with our like of Camberwell and all what it means, yeah.

FIND OUT WHAT CAMBERWELL REALLY MEANS. Come to the Hermits Cave and its creche across the road, STORMBIRD, tomorrow evening, Friday 6 June 2014.

YOU MAY BE GOING TO CAMBERWELL GREEN ANYWAY, or passing, or whatever. But I plead to you, suggest, seduce — people of Camberwell, all people, of all kinds, no matter how long you have been here — ten seconds will do — no how unimportant you are — yes, you! — many are called, but few are JES HOLDEN -

drop by the Hermits Cave tomorrow night — it will be a warm Friday night — and a real do, for him, for us, for you.

Aye, we are proud to have this railway line running through the parish, pulling passengers from whatever era, from whence, to where, we shall never really know.

Ah, but it is we ourselves who are travelling through our own lives, on a holiday of sorts, towards a seaside town where ample landladies will laughingly welcome us to their cabbage and fish smelling guesthouses with our own, faded photographs already on the walls from years ago, strangely from many, many years ago, swell in our straw hats and blazers.

For this is the magic of Camberwell, the crossroads between this life, that life and the other life, not forgetting the world and his wife.

Living in Brockley after twenty years in Camberwell I don’t coffee in SE5 any more. Although I looked at Seymours’ with a view to taking it on, it needed a hefty premium and a lot of work doing to it so gave it a miss. WE would have done Pizza there too. Like we were going to do at Safa and upstairs at Funky Munky a bunch of other opportunities in Camberwell. All too expensive, paying premiums to landlords to buy a failed business. Will be resurrecting elsewhere…

Frank’s Cafe used one of my photographs of their bar for their twitter header.

Where is Tire Bouchon Peter? I know I passed it somewhere but where exactly escapes me.

For those disinterested in the football, Pathé News recently uploaded their entire archive onto Youtube. Amongst the 90,000 videos is this story of a monkey being captured in Brunswick Park in October 1924:

“Joey” escaped from his cage in the garden of a house on Sansom Street and made his home on the rooftops of Benhill Road. He became a minor celebrity and large crowds gathered to watch as he foiled the attempts of policemen, firemen and ladder-climbing experts to catch him. After 13 days of freedom he was finally captured by Mr John Jarvis, a professional ratcatcher from the area, who claimed to be using as bait a “secret concoction given him by an Eastern sailor”.

Joey escaped again twice the following year, each time drawing large crowds, and his notoriety spread across the country. His rock and roll lifestyle took its toll however, and he sadly died in the summer of 1926 of pneumonia brought on by alcohol withdrawal. Poor old Joey Camberwell!

Immediately, there is a problem at Vanguard Court. The owners want to turn half of it into bijou homelets for non-entity bankers, basically, the most so-not-Camberwell planning you could ever think of.

Why, Miss Eilean, that is perfectly charming. To augment the delight of this swelligant piece, here is news of Uncle Tom from Camberwell, recently deceased. I have appended this here in the magazine before, but it warrants “a new outing”:

DOG KENNEL HILL SCHOOL summer fair was exactly how any primary school summmer fair should be. Their live music was fab. The children doing the movements to “Happy” was fab and the cake stall was like something out the final of “Strictly Come Baking”. Well done DKH, what a cool school.

Voting is taking place in the international radio awards thing for which our own extraordinary Sly & Reggie are eligible: PLEASE VOTE. The link is below.

If they win their UK category, they may be presenting Eurovision next year.

Off-thread, but here goes:
For those of you with an interest in politics, there’s a film called “Pride” scheduled for release on 12 September, which tells the story of the London Lesbians & Gays Support the Miners Group (LGSM). The group first met on 11 July 1984 and twinned with Dulais Valley in South Wales. In the 9 months it existed, it raised +£25,000. And for a Camberwell angle, some of those responsible for getting the group up & running lived here (Jimmy Somerville lived on the Wyndham & Comber estate until Bronski Beat hit the charts with Smalltown Boy & there were 6–7 others) and the first meeting of the group took place in the home of the founding member Mark Ashton just up the road on the Heygate estate.
Here is a link to the film trailer: https://uk.yahoo.com/movies/pride-watch-the-exclusive-first-trailer-what-90052137216.html
Stars Imelda Staunton, Bill Nighy, Dominic West, Paddy Considine, Andrew Scott and also Russell Tovey in a little cameo.
It’s both touching and hilarious — but perhaps most importantly, it shows how far we have come in the intervening 30 years in terms of equality.
When the strike came to an end, the South Wales mining communities organised a huge delegation to 1985 Lesbian & Gay Pride and led the march with their band — as a thank you for LGSM being the biggest donors to their appeal fund throughout the strike. The NUM went on to support a resolution on Lesbian & Gay equality at 1985 Labour Party Conference — prior to the strike, the NUM had resolutely opposed this policy. The film is the story of all this and more. And with an 80’s soundtrack too! Some of the story is fictionalised, but most is true — I know, because I was there.

Further reading on the drone/blimp occasionally seen hovering above Rye Lane reveals it is not a lashed-up effort of a conceptual artist as I had assumed, but is in fact a full-on “military-grade helikite”… that has been re-purposed for subversive ends… by a conceptual artist. So that’s that cleared up.

The small protest that has been set up by a lovely Palestinian guy in Wren Road is one of those occasions that makes me really proud to be living in Camberwell. Its become a real talking point with people stopping and discussing the situation in Gaza. Go along and support him.

Let’s hope he has some influence. Camberwell has some rough edges, but we don’t shell, bomb or rocket our neighbours. He is right to live here.

The Fox on the Hill comes into its own at this time of year. There is a great view of London with a specific focus on the Post Office Tower — a skilled rocket launcher would appreciate the gap between the tall buildings and slaver at the prospect of downing that modernistic throwback.

The bill for a round at the Fox is just a few quid and the beer is excellent. Good beer should be cheap. It is our right, like good bread.

Recent governments seem to have supported pub owners’ repression of the right to assembly.

No threat to the Greendale…most of the residents there are wise to the ruse…

Dulwich Hamlet just want to stay where they are…looks like the property developer who owns the land wants to stir up some local opposition so that the club has to find elsewhere to play…initially they play the nice guys making all the right noises but I’ve seen these underhand tactics before

Maybe the fact that the club was set up by Dulwich College and Westminster College Old Boys might help matters — Who would be the person to contact there?

Residents around there are generally affectionate towards the club and the supporters themselves don’t want to upset anybody — they merely want their club to exist where it always has been — in Champion Hill

I live on the D’Eynsford estate in Camberwell, (Just off Camberwell Church Street…behind the KFC!). It was designed by architect’s partnership Clifford Culpin & Partners and built between 1971–78 who also designed Greenwich Town Hall.

We are an estate of 360 low-rise flats and maisonettes, 25% leasehold, the rest are council tenancies. The D’Eynsford estate is cited in one publication as being “the first large low-rise estate distinctively in the neo-vernacuar fashion.”

Southwark Council are in the process of Major Works renovation on the estate, and are specifically looking to replace the windows, the majority of which are still in very good condition after 40+ years.

We have set up the D’Eynsford Action Goup, the aims of which are:
• Ensure meaningful consultation between Southwark Council and the residents of D’Eynsford Estate
• Keep the existing timber windows
• Maintain the high standard of these windows by refurbishing and maintaining them.
• ‘Retro-fit’ the current windows with double-glazing (if deemed appropriate)
• or if this is not possible, replace with like-for-like windows where the windows are too damaged for repair.

How can you help?
If you are a neighbour to the estate or have an interest in keeping the original features on period property, or object to wasteful installation of uPVC, and agree with our campaign to save our windows please send a letter of objection to…Southwark Planning before August 13thPlanning.​consultation@​southwark.​gov.​uk
Letter of Objection to Replacement of metal windows and doors to uPVC on D’Eynsford Estate — 14/AP/2551 — 14/AP/2552 — 14/AP/2553 — 14/AP/2555 — 14/AP/2556 — 14/AP/2557 — 14/AP/2559 — 14/AP/256
Please make sure that you state your postal address.

We currently have excellent wooden windows
• The original windows are Swedish hardwood, timber framed windows
• They are easy to repair
• Our windows allow maximum light thanks to large panes of glass
• They tilt around for maximum airflow and easy cleaning
• They were installed in the mid 1970’s so are approximately 40 years old
• Wooden framed windows have a life span of 60–80 years
• Our windows are in a good state of repair because many of the flats have eaves (overhangs from the roof), or balconies that shelter the windows from the majority of weather

Why are we opposed to the installation of uPVC?
• uPVC windows are only estimated to last 20 years (lifespan if still unclear as it is still a ‘new’ product)
• The larger windows will have to be split into two separate windows
• uPVC window frames are thicker, meaning less light will get into your flat
• It is unlikely we can have windows that open fully so there will be less airflow in your flat, and even hotter
• uPVC windows will change the look of the estate for the worse
• uPVC windows cause more damage to the environment
• It is impossible to repair UPVC windows cheaply, if at all
• Removing a damaged window is difficult so they are unable to be re-used
• uPVC windows are hard to recycle

Why else are we opposed?
• If you have ever visited our flat, it is hotter than hell thanks to an inefficient heating system which is ALWAYS on!
• All residents have their windows open year-round to let the heat escape.
• These new windows will now allow us to do this — making the problem with heating worse.

On top of all of this the approx. cost for a leaseholder of a 1 bed flat is in the region of £15k!

If you have planning / windows expertise and would like to give us any advice we’d love to hear from you

If you have legal in this area, expertise, we’d love to hear from you too!

If you would like to spread the word and help us keep the integrity of this wonderful estate, we’d be most appreciative.
E-mail us as — deynsfordactiongroup@​gmail.​com

Well done, Action Group. A supportive letter has been sent from the Dagmar villa. Good upkeep of the council estates of Camberwell is essential to the character of Camberwell and therefore to that of London.

You only have to mention the word Lakanal to highlight the need for proper estate management here.

And also, as Millwall’s visionary manager said at the weekend:

“I just want people to show me and my team some respect. Van Gogh is a decent painter now isn’t he? But when he was alive he was just a bloke with half an ear.”

Hi Jordana,
There is a Tenants & Residents Association on the D’Eynsford, no? Have you sought their support for your campaign, because if not, I would recommend that you do — the Council will consult on the refurbishment project, but are unlikely to do it all twice — once with the T&RA and once with your group.

@Mushtimushta Thank you for the advice — We dissolved our TRA early this summer and now have a TMO which goes live in Feb 2015, but given it is about to embark on a long lasting (collaborative…) relationship with the council — best not get off on the wrong foot!
The TMO must represent the residents both for and against the proposed changes to the UPVC windows.
The action group has been set up by those (both tenants and residents, it is important to add) who are unhappy for the reasons I have listed above.
If you would like to lend your support it would be very appreciated!

Yes, Sly & Reggie are back on Croydon Radio at 2pm, along with the live corpses, eructating with gas and gruffly articulating for a few moments more, William Burroughs, Morrissey, Allen Ginsberg and the fabulous Ian Dury.

Camberwell is once again the jewel in a literary crown. Sarah Water’s latest novel ‘The Paying Guests’ is set in a ‘genteel Camberwell villa’. Haven’t read it yet so can’t comment on the quality of the novel but I’m hopeful there will be descriptions of these here streets in days gone by.

Today’s “Standard” encourages its readers to “Join the stampede to newly cool Camberwell”. The new development going up, Camberwell Fields, is the focus of this piece — has had a lot of interest with flats from £90,000. The whole where-to-live thing is not just scandalous, but tragic.

Jane Shilling in the Standard also described Camberwell as ” that shabby — genteel suburb of south — east London with its uneasy mixture of the villas of the professional classes and the mean dwellings of artisans ” I know she was reviewing the book but really .….

I think in the 1920s that was the case, when every nuance of the class system was of Everest proportions. So if you had a villa, you were mightily above those whose terraced houses gave straight out onto the street, for instance, like in much of Walworth.

“Liminal” is a word to use wherever possible in book or arts reviewing. I always have to look it up, every time, to see what it means. That may be because it means hardly anything, or transitional, at the threshold, passing, between-the-worlds.